A Collection of Christmas
by E.G. Potter
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one-shots for Clever Ink Slinger's Christmas Boot Camp Challenge on HPFC. Various pairs, families, themes, genres, etc. There's no telling what is next!
1. Mary Christmas

1. "Mary" Christmas

Hermione held her small daughter's hand tightly as they walked down the crowded New York street. She and Ron had decided to take Rose and Hugo to America for the holidays. They were spending a few days in New York, for Christmas, and were then planning to go to Disney World for the New Year. They missed their other family, yes, but Hermione was secretly relieved that they were on their own for once. She loved her mother-in-law, but Molly Weasley was the Queen of overbearance.

"Mummy," Rose said as they reached the park. "May I go play now?"

Hermione smiled fondly at the girl. They had been shopping all day and Rosie has been quite listless in the last few stores. "Yes, darling. Go have fun."

"Yay!" Rose careened toward the playground where a handful of children were having a snowball fight.

_She is her father's daughter,_ Hermione thought to herself as she pulled out her novel, proceeding to lose herself in the story about a small town called Pagford...

An hour later, Rose ran up to the bench where her mother was sitting, rosy-cheeked and out of breath, complaining about the cold. Hermione stowed her book back in her purse and the two left hand-in-hand.

"Mummy," Rose said, her voice reflecting deep thought.

"Yes?"

Rose hesitated for a moment, figuring out her sentence. "These people here are strange."

"And why is that, love?" Hermione chuckled to herself.

Rose stomped down a large pile of snow on the sidewalk. "Before we left, they told me to have a Mary Christmas." She paused for a second. "Who's Mary?"

It took all of Hermione's composure not to laugh at her daughter. A 'Mary' Christmas, indeed.

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A/N: Yay Christmas bootcamp! This will be a slow progression (thank you, college), but I am wholly dedicated. Much love to you all! :)


	2. Elves

2. Elves

"Oy, Hermione, what is this?" Ron asked her, picking up a large picture book from the center of the table.

"Ronald, that's a book," she responded slowly, as though worried about his mental capability. Harry burst into laughter.

Ron dropped the offending item back onto the table so that he could punch Harry in the shoulder. "Shove off, the both of you," he said, laughing. Hermione bit her lip as she picked up the book Ron had dropped and added it to another stack.

"Well, you asked what it was, mate. All Hermione did was give you an answer," Harry told him, rubbing his arm.

Sighing, Ron said, "What I meant was what is that thing on the front cover?"

The trio was separating the vast collection of children's books that Hermione had had at her parents' house. She had recently moved into a flat and was trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Hermione looked up from a random storybook that she placed into the 'donate' pile.

"Oh," she chuckled. "That's an elf."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ron said, looking at her as though she had a third eye.

Harry and Hermione shared a look. "It's an elf. You know, Father Christmas, Santa Claus," Hermione said, smiling, "he has elves that work for him."

"_That_," Ron said, pointing, "is _not _an elf. It looks like a miniature human with freakishly large ears!"

The other two members of the trio laughed. "Ron, you have to remember that we were raised by Muggles," Harry told him, levitating a stack of books into a box.

Ron spluttered. "But that is not an elf!"

"Whatever you say, Ronald."

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Words: 279

(A/N: Gotta love his Muggle ignorance. Haha. Don't expect these to be in any kind of order, or to be 100% canon at all times. I'll try to put warnings up as I go.)


	3. Pie

3. Pie

Heaving a heavy sigh as she levitated the last batch of pies out of the oven, Molly Weasley felt a little bit of relief slide off her shoulders. Cooking for a family as large as hers had always been a bit of a challenge, but she could handle it. She cast a gentle warming charm to keep the pies fresh and at the proper temperature. She then began to run through her list again. For the meal, she had three steak and kidney pies, six mince pies, a chicken and mushroom pie, and two Shepard's pies, among other main courses and side dishes.

As far as dessert was concerned, there was one honey custard tart for Percy, four treacle tarts, two apple pies, three banoffee pies, and two rhubarb pies. Hermione was bringing two pumpkin pies and two pecan pies, recipes of which she was fairly fond. Fleur was bringing two Yule logs, and Audrey was bringing two fruit cakes. Angelina was contributing to the main course while Ginny was bringing about seven dozen cookies and other various candies that she and the children had made.

As Molly poured herself a cold glass of pumpkin juice, she noted the amount of flour coating her entire kitchen. Thank goodness the Christmas pie season only came once a year.

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Words: 217

A/N: Hi, I'm an author, and I thrive on your feedback. :)

(Hint, hint: review!)


	4. Candy Cane

4. Candy Cane

Hermione had told him that it was a bad idea to put candy canes on the lower part of the tree, but he had insisted on hanging them anyway. What he didn't expect was their three-year-old daughter Lily Rose slipping into the den, unnoticed, and helping herself.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed happily as Harry walked in. She was planted under the tree, half of a piece of candy clutched in her chubby hand. Her lips were stained red by the food dye. "Candy cane?" She offered him one.

"Oh, Lily," Harry sighed. "How many did you eat?"

She giggled, holding up four fingers. "'Dis many!"

Picking her up, Harry said, "Your mother is going to kill me..."

Just then, Hermione walked into the den, carrying an armful of presents. "What did you do now, love?"

"Nothing, dear!" Harry told her, trying to escape the room as quickly as possible so that he could go wash the red stickiness off of Lily.

"Harry, why are there five candy canes missing from the tree?"

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Words: 171

A/N: I posted this from my phone. If it's messed up, I'll fix it later.

Random review topic: What is your opinion of candy canes?


	5. Frosty

5. Frosty

Remus sighed as he traced small, intricate patterns on the frosty window, the Scottish country side rolling by on the other side. He loved his friends, but he was very ready to be home. He missed his parents.

"Come on, Rem," James said, a bright smile on his face, "let's play a game of Exploding Snap!"

Remus removed his hand from the window, turning back to the long-forgotten novel in his lap. "I'd rather not, James."

"What about a game of chess?" Peter suggested from where he was lying on the floor. He picked up another Cauldron Cake and shoved it into his mouth, adding its wrapper to the growing pile beside him.

"No, really, I'm fine," Remus said, his voice flat. They still didn't know, and they couldn't know. And until then, he would remain frosty towards them during the week of the full moon. Such a secret was a heavy burden to bear for a thirteen-year-old.

As Remus turned to look out the window again, he sighed, hoping his transformation wouldn't color his holiday home with his family. James and Sirius shared a look of concern, but Peter just took another sweet from the vast collection on the floor.

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Words: 201

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know. :)


	6. Poinsettia

6. Poinsettia 

"_To my darling niece and her family, I wish you a most Happy Christmas. Love, Aunt Sheryl"_

The card said nearly the same thing as it had for the last seven years. Why Aunt Sheryl all of the sudden wanted to be a presence in Hermione's life, the young woman knew not. What she did know, however, was that the gift her mother's sister sent each year was frivolous and pointless. Hermione wanted nothing more than to throw it out, but she knew that if she did, her mother would comment when they came over on Christmas Eve, and Hermione would have to explain how much she loathed poinsettia plants.

Why did she hate them so much? They were useless, for one. They took up space (albeit, not much), had no smell, and she was fairly certain it was toxic! Never mind the fact that she had two small children running around the house, one of whom was very like his father, and wanted to eat _everything _he saw and -

Her husband's voice cut into her thoughts: "Hermione, why are you glaring at that plant?"

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Words: 186

I loved writing this one. I share the same sentiments about poinsettias. Haha.


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